Sens. query racism report

Questions about anti-Semitism and harassment at UCI, which has seen two separate reports in recent months on the subject, now involves three U.S. senators.

The three senators on the U.S. Senate Committee of the Judiciary recently sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Education calling into question some portions of its investigation into alleged anti-Semitism on UCI’s campus.

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) and Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) questioned the investigation, focusing on what they characterized as inconsistencies in “prior policy statements” held by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights with the conclusions in its report on anti-Semitism allegations at UCI. The Zionist Organization of America in 2004 initially filed the complaint, and the department’s report was issued in November.

The university has been rocked in recent years by complaints about anti-Semitism, much of which revolve around controversial speakers who criticize Israel.

“The letter is indicative of a concern that people have in this country for this type of hatred on campus,” said Ted Bleiweis, a spokesman for the independent task force that issued a report — after the Office of Civil Rights’ report was released — suggesting there is a problem with anti-Semitism at UCI.

Bleiweis believes the letter will force a follow-up to the Office of Civil Rights’ investigation. Bleiweis also challenged UCI to speak out on the subject.

A UCI spokeswoman said university officials have no comment, as the issue is mainly between the Senate Judiciary and the Office of Civil Rights, but UCI will keep an eye on how the situation unfolds.

The majority of concerns in the letter stem from Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which address harassment on the basis of national origin, race or ethnicity, among other items, but doesn’t allow authority over discrimination based solely on religion.

In the Office of Civil Rights report, investigators concluded there was no “pattern or practice” of discrimination on UCI’s part.

The report also stated some of the allegations were beyond its authority under Title VI because the alleged discrimination complaints were religious in nature.